Our marine territory extends far beyond our coastline encompassing 880,000 km2 and this huge area is more than 10 times our land mass. The map above shows this enormous area.

This map was developed by a joint venture by the Geological Survey of Ireland and the Marine Institute, and it shows Ireland’s current designated Irish Continental Shelf, which is one of the largest seabed territories in Europe.

The continental shelf is the extension of a State’s territorial waters, where the natural land extends under the sea to the outer edge of the continental margin beyond 200 nautical milesfrom the coastline baseline.

It’s a cracking tune (lovely break @.34) and the sarcastic lyrics seem to be from the view a person reveling in small town parochial life. There is very little on google about its origins. The singer is called Hayes so that might be a link but they are a born and bred Californian band. Anyone?

Interviewing police sources has been virtually impossible since the Garda Siochana Act of 2005, which bans police officers from talking to journalists without prior authorisation. Officers contravening the ban risk dismissal, a fine, or up to seven years in prison.

Ireland took to the pitch with a quintet of debutants, among them, Ronan O’Gara and Peter Stringer (airborne above), hoping to break a 12-year-long record of defeats.

The victory would usher in a golden era for Irish rugby.

Gerry Thornely, in the following Monday’s Irish Times, wrote:

And with one bound, Ireland were free. Just like that. It’s amazing what a bit of pace and variation, a bit of old-fashioned aggression and a little of confidence and luck can bring. But what a day, what a metamorphosis.

It was scarcely credible really. The sun shone for once gloriously on this normally overcast fixture, Lansdowne Road rediscovered its spirit and even the singing was good.